Morgan Stanley Cuts Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Price Target to $524.00

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) had its price objective decreased by Morgan Stanley from $536.00 to $524.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $433.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $490.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $520.00 to $510.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a positive rating and issued a $535.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $493.55.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $443.58 on Thursday. Mastercard has a 52 week low of $357.85 and a 52 week high of $490.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $469.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $437.74. The company has a market cap of $413.81 billion, a PE ratio of 35.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.08.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The credit services provider reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.34 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 183.70% and a net margin of 46.09%. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 14.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 8th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 116,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $445.04, for a total value of $51,624,640.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,651,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,013,698,112.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 116,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $445.04, for a total transaction of $51,624,640.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 96,651,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,013,698,112.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Michael Miebach sold 7,851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.92, for a total transaction of $3,736,447.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 47,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,672,828.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 583,088 shares of company stock worth $266,873,978 in the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Activest Wealth Management raised its position in Mastercard by 87.4% in the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 536 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Cross Staff Investments Inc raised its position in Mastercard by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 3,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the period. Everett Harris & Co. CA raised its position in Mastercard by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 49,539 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $21,129,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its position in Mastercard by 23.9% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 12,124 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,171,000 after purchasing an additional 2,337 shares during the period. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its position in Mastercard by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 490 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.